Call Apple Support directly. Talk to a live human. Request an exception.

Why does the wi-fi 'sometimes' work? Some hardware issues are intermittent. Some are constant. That's how technology works. For example, a loose fuse in your car can cause your power windows to work sometimes, and other times not.

Did you have an appointment at the Genius Bar? If so, they should have done more testing. If you had an appointment and they did no testing, complain to the Store Director. It's not Apple's policy to refuse to test a device if you have an appointment.

Why do you need to check to see if it's hardware or not? So you know for sure if it needs to be replaced.

Sounds like you got sub-par service at an Apple Store, and don't want to talk to Apple Support. Talk to the Store Director, because he or she controls that particular store, and is in charge of those employees. Unless you tell someone that can do something about, nothing will be done about it.

I am sorry but I am afraid what you are saying is not accurate, at least as applied to where I am located (UK).

It is enshrined in UK consumer law (in the sales of good act 1979) that goods purchased should be @Fit for purpose and last a Reasonable length of Time".

Now the law in the country does not put a time limit on the 'reasonable' length of time but lawyers and the consumer minister was quite explicit that this time does NOT have to be the length of the warranty the company chooses to provide. A company by law is not required to provide a warranty at all, but this does not mean that the good are not covered the minute it is bought.

Most lawyers agree (when arguing this in court) that the 'reasonable' length of time is related to the cost of the item, so, for example if I bought a 20p (or around 30 US cents) plastic pen from the shop, and it breaks after 10 days then it has lasted a reasonable amount of time. However if I bought a £1000 ($1600) TV set and it breaks after 1 years and 1 month (regardless of the length of warranty, because, as I have stated no supplier is required to provide one in the first place), and I have not misused or damaged it, then to a 'reasonable' person this does not sound a 'reasonable' length of time. I would assure you this that point had case law precedent, as has been successfully argued in court.

So if I were to buy a £500 ($800 or whatever) phone and it malfunctions in a years a bit (i.e. Wi-Fi greyed out) I would not consider this a reasonable length of time. We may differ on what time period is reasonable; however, I would assure you that case law has demonstrated that for expensive items the 'reasonable' length of time as considered by a judge is longer than a year. Expensive phones fall into this category as was actually referenced by the consumer minister recently.

So, as you can see, the law (in the UK) actually states that the manufacturer are liable for a 'reasonable' length of time (which can be demonstrated by case law to be longer than year). I am jot sure about the law in other countries but at least for the UK you are wrong.

You can argue about the morals of it, what I am saying is that your statements are not accurate according to the law in a marjor country where millions of iphones are sold. These laws may also exist elsewhere. So please in the future, I would encourage you to think a bit about your statements before posting them.

Good, as long as you are aware, and do make people you are giving advice to aware it is fine. This is aforum with an International user base and many of the people posting here are not from the US (after all, more iphones are sold outside the US then within). I am not saying Apple hides anything, what I am refering to is that the UK and also EU has additional consumer protection in law and people from these locations should refer to the law which may result in them getting a repair/replacement or money back. I do not claim apple hides anything, and its good they have something on their website about this.

Perhaps when offering advice (as is helpful on this forum) do state that your advice (which as I understand, is: if out of warrenty, then one would have to pay for the repair or replacement) may not apply to all countries which may have different laws (after all, the UK + rest of EU together has hundreds of millions of people).

But that being said, I think there are people who are helped by your advice, although I have to confess I am not one of them.

In addition, although China is not a common law country, I think there has been legal cases (as also relevent laws) in China where people have gotten redress for items past warrenty which then malfunctions (Apple has reponded by covering some of their components for more than the one year period, although this does not apply to iphones). If anything, China may become a bigger market for Apple than either the US or EU.

I just got to the outley where I brought this 4S, I just expire with 2 yeras data plan, but the phone only warrenty for 1 year, so it is not ligible for any free repair or exchange in Malaysia, and thenstaff also said that tis has been many cases here and all cuase by downloading the ISO 7, it is during upgarding progress there must have some interrupt. And I do agreed beause I reset the wifi router during the upgrade because it seems hagging in the mid of upgrading, and for this I think is the cause.

I had 2 4S, one of it have no such problem and it upgrade 1 day before the one having grau out wifi key.

I hope to reformat the iphone and reinstalled the ISO, but it seem not possible, or am I wrong, anyone have any idea for full clean format for 4S, please post, I will follow up this, thanks .

My warranty on my 4s has run out. My wifi chip was fried with the IOS 6.0.3 update and my Bluetooth doesn't work. It just spins. I've done everything Apple has recommended. Apple's software fried Apple's hardware but Apple is not responsible? How is that even allowed to happen? Are there not consumer laws?

Same problem here except it happened to my iPhone 4 (not S) upon upgrading to iOS7. As of this writing, this article has over 143,000 views... Just how many people does it take before Apple recalls and repairs these phones for free?

My warranty on my 4s has run out. My wifi chip was fried with the IOS 6.0.3 update and my Bluetooth doesn't work. It just spins. I've done everything Apple has recommended. Apple's software fried Apple's hardware but Apple is not responsible? How is that even allowed to happen? Are there not consumer laws?

Apple obviously caused this problem with thier new software. They broke it, they should fix it.

If the new software was the root cause, then all units with the new software would have the same issue. This is not the case.

It's defective hardware (in virtually all of the cases). And if in the rare instance it's something with the software, restoring as new would fix the issue. If it does not, and after a restore as new the issue remains, then it's a hardware fault. And therefore, it falls under the terms of the warranty, which is mutually agreed upon at time of purchase.

Having said that, your best option if you are out of warranty is to contact Apple Support immediately, and ask for an exception to the normal warranty replacement options. Ask for a supervisor if you need to. The answer might still be 'no', but it doesn't hurt to ask.

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